“How do I minimize logistics costs and increase OTD?”

Planning a shipment starts many weeks before goods actually leave the Distribution Center or factory dock on their way to their final destination. Accurate planning ahead of departure and precise execution eliminate expedites and unknowns.  Keeping yourself, customers and vendors accountable to an agreed schedule ensures nothing goes astray.

Planning early needs an accurate combination of transactional volume and master data such as cube and weight and transit time. Precise execution needs real time stage data from external parties.  It is unlikely that the most accurate data sources are all in one system, bringing key data sets together to predict and measure for efficient operations and constant process improvement is a must.

OpsVeda can predict out bound volumes based on Sales Orders by start date, quantity on order, required target minimum fill rate and available to ship quantity predictions. Carriers can be contracted with strict Service Level Agreement (SLA) on actual date and time of pick up for optimal transport efficiency. In the moment tracking of the outbound preparation ahead of departure via own- or third-party warehouse management system in OpsVeda gives enough warning to Logistics team that some help will be required for certain orders.  A full history of alerts and exceptions detected in the moment of execution together with final outcome to an on-time delivery metric complete the analysis for performance review and process improvement.

OpsVeda can predict inbound volumes based on Purchase Orders, ex-factory date, transit times and confirmed PO quantities, freight space can be booked on container ships or airlines with maximum lead time and accuracy for favorable rates and consistent service. Actual inbound movement is tracked in OpsVeda via linkages to transit tracking from third parties and unique shipment numbers. Knowing exactly when your purchased goods will arrive gives the logistics planning team the opportunity to manage the workload in the receiving bays while meeting inventory levels to support smooth in and out warehouse operations.

Typical Alerts and Exceptions in OpsVeda call out when an outbound delivery has incomplete data, is currently delayed or has missed a stage deadline. Similarly, inbound deliveries are monitored by exceptions looking for mismatch in committed and actual shipped quantities, dates or routes.

The opportunity of minimizing transportation costs while meeting on time delivery dates is greatly improved with integrated real time data sources in OpsVeda together with finely tuned alerts and exceptions to call out when things are out of the ordinary.